Steam
by Spemily
Summary: What if Emily had found Spencer in the sauna instead of Aria? ONE-SHOT.


**A/N: Takes place during 3x20.**

Spencer felt the air around her become thicker. Her mind started to race; no thoughts were logical. All she could think about was getting out of the sauna. Someone had trapped her in the abnormally large shower, with the heat on the highest level. Her need to live took over her rationality. Usually she was able to plan things out, but not this time. Nobody was in the house and nobody would be home until the next week. Spencer was going to die if she did not get out of the shower as soon as possible. Her throat began to close as less air was available in the small room. She pounded on the glass of the shower, calling for help in case someone outside could hear her. Nobody was coming for her. She was going to die.

The relentless pounding against the glass did nothing; her parents are rich and spent a lot of money making sure that the barrier would not break due to carelessness. The shower was sealed tightly. Spencer could not get out of the shower unless she had a weapon, and all she had were her hands. She felt the fight drain from her body along with the energy she used to pound against the powerful glass.

Spencer gave up. She stopped her attempts to get out of the sauna. She slipped slowly to the ground and lay there face down, breathing in the thick air that clogged her throat continuously. She looked at her pruned hands in defeat and began to cry. A was killing her. She'd never get to see A be caught. She'd never get to see her parents again. She'd never get to see her friends again.

_Her friends_. They'd have to go through another death of a close friend. First Alison and now Spencer. This is what made her feel the worst. She wouldn't get to see her friends again. They were more family to her than her actual family.

She wouldn't get to talk to Aria and hear her inspiring words. Aria was always the calmest of the four, the most collected. Spencer was going to miss her ability to stay grounded.

She was going to miss Hanna's humour and perkiness. Hanna could always make her feel better when she needed it. Hanna was her clown when she was sad. She'd never get to hear another one of Hanna's perverted jokes or her uplifting laugh.

She was never going to see Emily again. Spencer had always respected Emily the most. She'd been through the deaths of the two people she loved the most, not to mention the constant reminder that death could take her father any time it wanted. Emily was the strongest; she was stronger than Spencer. She loved Emily more than her other friends. Emily was the one Spencer wasn't afraid to break down in front of. Emily was there for her through everything, despite their fights. Spencer remembered that the only time they would fight was when the other was dating someone and they didn't approve. Emily was right about Toby. Despite his good nature, he could be dangerous. He just proved that minutes before Spencer got into the shower.

But all Spencer could think about was Emily. More than anyone else in her life. Alison had tormented Emily for being gay. Spencer hadn't noticed until Emily came out. She wanted to shun Alison for making Emily feel so bad about herself. Sometimes she wanted to punch Ali. Emily was so loving and innocent. Whenever she was around, Spencer felt all tension in the room disappear. Emily made everything easier. If Spencer was freaking out over a test in school, Emily would be there to help her through it. She'd be entertaining and serious at the same time. She'd make Spencer study, but only to an extent. Having Emily in the room made Spencer feel loved. She'd always felt like this around Emily. She never really elaborated into why she felt like she was on amazing drugs around Emily, she just went along with the feeling.

But now she would never feel like that again. Now she would feel eternal darkness and hatred for the world, and Emily wouldn't be there to comfort her anymore. No longer would she rest her head on Emily's lap and feel her soft fingers travel throughout her hair. Spencer loved it when Emily would play with her hair. It comforted her. But now she'd never feel the comfort again.

Spencer slowly slipped into unconsciousness. She lost all capability to fight. In her last breaths, her mind replayed everything that had happened in her life. She watched as she was playing with her childhood friends, to the night Ali disappeared, to the moment she saw Toby's face as he turned around wearing a black hoodie. As her mind replayed the memories, her eyes began to close. She decided to just lay on the floor with her eyes shut until the time came. What she didn't know was that the time would not come. Not yet.

Emily ripped the crowbar from the handles of the shower. Her eyes quickly found Spencer laying on the hot ground, seemingly unconscious. She blasted the doors open with all of her power and dropped to the floor. She didn't care that Spencer was covered in water and that she would get soaked. She wrapped her warm hands around Spencer's naked back and dragged her out into the bathroom. Spencer's towel stayed wrapped around her body as Emily tugged her from the prison.

Emily turned Spencer over so that the other girl's head rested on her lap. She shouted Spencer's name multiple times before the girl became conscious. She slowly opened her eyes to see Emily crying above her. Before Spencer could do anything, Emily whisked Spencer into her arms in a suffocating embrace. Emily's arms wrapped around Spencer's small back so that one hand was clasped to her towel-covered side, and the other hand was caressing Spencer's head into her neck. Spencer, surprised by the sudden appearance of her friend, grasped onto Emily's back tightly. She wrapped her hands around Emily's neck and breathed in the oxygen like a drug. They remained in this position for five minutes before the both of them stopped crying.

Emily didn't say anything to Spencer. She simply held out her hand and assisted Spencer in standing up. She held Spencer's hand and walked her into her bedroom. She found some clothes for Spencer to wear and put them on her bed. Emily turned around while Spencer undressed. She didn't want to have an incriminating conversation over who had trapped the poor girl in the sauna while she was still half naked.

Once Spencer had dressed herself in a tank top and black sweatpants, Emily sat on her bed. Spencer followed and despite the largeness of the bed, was practically on top of Emily in fear.

"What happened?" Emily asked as she wrapped an arm around Spencer's waist tentatively. "Who did this to you?"

Spencer didn't look at Emily. After regaining consciousness, she realized that she had broken down in front of her friend. Spencer had made a promise with herself not to cry in front of her three best friends; they'd been through enough without her pathetic emotions. But she had broken that promise. Emily tightened her grip around Spencer and urged her to release the words struggling to escape her mouth.

"I don't know," Spencer replied with a shaky voice. "Maybe Toby did it."

Emily felt blood rush to her face in anger. Toby? Spencer's boyfriend? The kind boy she had known for years?

"Are you sure?" Emily asked skeptically. "Why would you say that?" She tried to look into Spencer's eyes, but the other girl insisted on keeping her eyes on the floor in shame.

Spencer leaned into Emily's embrace, knowing that if she spoke about Toby she would start to cry. Though Spencer noticed that whenever Emily holds her, all of the tension around her dispels into nothingness. If she leaned further into her friend, maybe she'd feel brave enough to spit out the truth without breaking down again. Emily always had a calming aura about her. Spencer loved it. It was the exact drug she needed.

"I thought A was in my house," Spencer began, her voice slightly stronger as Emily rubbed her thumb up and down against Spencer's shaking waist. "So I figured I could catch him. When I turned around, Toby was the one in the black hoodie. Not some psycho stalker. My boyfriend... Ex-boyfriend... Then someone locked me in the sauna."

Emily felt Spencer shaking slightly against her. She didn't know what to do; her grip around her friend was already deathening. Her thumb's pace had picked up in anxiety. Spencer still wouldn't make eye contact. Emily stood up and dropped onto one knee below Spencer. She had a vantage point and could now see the pain radiating throughout Spencer's eyes. She reached up and softly removed a tear trickling down Spencer's cheek.

"I will destroy him," Emily stated with confidence. Spencer recognized the words that came out of Emily's mouth. They were the same words she had told Emily when Paige was harassing her.

Spencer sniffled. "That's not necessary," she said. For the first time since what she thought was her death, Spencer smiled. "You wouldn't hurt him enough."

Emily smiled back at Spencer. "Are you sure?" Emily was taking advantage of Spencer's lightened mood and tried to keep the humour going. "I'd cripple him."

Spencer sadly giggled at Emily's words. Emily looked at her and smiled.

"I know you would," Spencer said as she put her hand onto Emily's, which was resting on her knee. Emily stood up and looked at the clock.

"It's late," she said. As soon as the words left her mouth, her attention was drawn to Spencer's smile quickly fading into a frown. "Do you want me to stay over?"

Spencer's heartbeat picked up. She was so afraid that Emily was going to leave her alone in the house. But Emily wouldn't do that. Even if her mother refused to allow her to stay at Spencer's, she knew that Emily would bar the doors to prevent Pam from dragging her out.

"Please?" Spencer asked weakly. Emily smiled and sat back down next to her on the bed. Her eyes locked onto Spencer's. She could see the pain still lingering on the girl's face. Her best friend's boyfriend had just traumatized her. She'd been sleeping with the enemy. For the past long months, she was being manipulated by the one she sold her heart to. Emily knew that Spencer would take a long time to heal. But all she could do was stare lovingly into her friend's eyes.

Emily's heart started to race. Her feelings were taking over her sense of logic. She was fighting against the will to kiss Spencer. Her friend had just been betrayed by her soulmate. Spencer had been through enough without Emily kissing her. She had liked Spencer longer than she liked Alison. That's why she always took Spencer's side on most matters, except for the fights they had. But the only thing that Emily noticed about their fights was that they only fought over the people they were dating. They had fought over Toby, Maya, Paige, and Alison. Never about anything else. Emily hadn't taken this as a sign that her straight friend liked her back, but once again, her feelings were trying to convince her otherwise.

Emily refused to allow this to happen. Her logic overtook her feelings, though the fight was savaging. Emily's head began to slowly fall, until it touched Spencer's. They were face to face, foreheads resting against one another's. Emily's eyes widened at Spencer's actions. Had Spencer caught her? She could have moved her head backwards, but instead she willed it forwards against Emily's.

Spencer could feel Emily's breath against her lips. She stared into her friend's eyes. Maybe it was no coincidence that Emily came to her rescue. Maybe this was supposed to happen. Maybe A had just introduced a new life into Spencer instead of taking one from her. She didn't break eye contact with Emily. Spencer was stuck. She felt as if someone had glued their heads together. Spencer received the overwhelming need to kiss Emily. But that would be unfair. She probably felt like this because of what happened with Toby. Maybe she felt the need for revenge by kissing someone else. But Emily's scent was intoxicating. She couldn't fight the feelings she held for her friend. They had long been in her heart, though they were never acted upon.

Something in the air pushed Spencer closer to Emily. Their lips were so close that one tiny movement would connect them. But no one wanted to end the moment. Both were scared to death. This is probably just the spur of the moment. True, they had kissed before, but that was a long time ago. The night before Alison's disappearance. No kiss had compared to the one they shared that night, although it was accidental. Alison bumped Emily into Spencer and laughed as they quickly drew back from one another. Though Spencer and Emily wanted the kiss to last longer, they were much too frightened. They broke apart so fast that a bullet couldn't hit them.

This was different. Emily could almost feel Spencer's lips on hers, though they weren't. She wanted to close the distance. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and she was positive that Spencer could hear it.

Before Emily had the chance to act, Spencer moved a fraction of an inch further so that their lips finally connected in a kiss. Emily's lips were soft. They weren't wet and they weren't dry; they were perfect. Spencer could feel Emily's heat transferring into her body from the intensity. Emily slowly drew back, her eyes locked onto Spencer's.

She tried to gauge Spencer's reaction to the scene. Although Spencer initiated the kiss, Emily was frightened of what her friend would do. Her "straight" friend, for that matter.

But Spencer wasted no time confusing Emily. She leaned forward again, this time turning her head slightly, and felt her lips connect against Emily's like a magnet. Spencer moved her lips against Emily's in perfect synchronization. The kisses were never hungry, they were long, soft, and caring. This was not a moment in which they felt the need to be on top of each other, they simply felt the urge to be with each other in a phenomenal moment.

Spencer's hand reached up and gently held Emily's cheek. Her other hand was keeping her balance on the bed as they sat next to each other. Emily's hand was on Spencer's knee, not moving, but lovingly gripping it in affection. Spencer leaned forward more into Emily, stroking her cheek as she did so. She had never expected to be kissing her best friend. The thought was in the back of her head, but she never imagined it to come true.

Emily felt Spencer smile against her lips in bliss.

Almost dying was the best thing that had ever happened to Spencer.


End file.
